Who is your favorite character in Mahabharata, and why?

 Why just Mahabharata, Let me consider from all the Hindu epics so far !!

It’s not Lord Krishna / Rama / Shiva / Vishnu or some one else ! ( It doesn’t mean that i don’t like or worship them. Yes, I do. )

Presenting you the greatest warrior ever in the history of epics, who has taken the meaning of loyalty, kindness & charity to the next level !

Meet Mr.Daana veera soora Karna, Warrior of the Sun !

---

( If you are meeting him for the first time, let me tell you why he my favorite. But, before that let me elaborate his titles in order not to get my answer get collapsed by Quora moderators for the words in the answer that are not in English )

Daana - Habit of charity

Veera - Power of audacity

Soora - Potential of bravery

These habits of him make him one of the compelling roles in the epic Mahabharata !

---

A glimpse of his pitiable life :

• Karna is the premarital child born with armour (Kavacha) and a pair of ear rings (Kundala) for kunti and the sun god.
• He was left behind in a basket and set him afloat on the river ganga, by his mother kunti, as she was afraid of being an unwed mother.

• Adhiratha, a charioteer of King Dhritarashtra of Hastinapur found him on the banks of the river and brought him home. His wife radha raised the boy as their own son and named him Vasusena. He also came to be known as Radheya, the son of Radha.
• Due to karna’s interest in the art of warfare, he approached Dronacharya. But he refused to teach him as he was not Kshatriya. ( Kshatriya - people from ruling and military elite ).
• As Parshurama, dronacharya’s own guru only teach to Brahmins, Karna appeared before him as such. Parashurama accepted him and trained him to such a point that he declared Karna to be equal to himself in the art of warfare and archery.
• On a day towards the end of his training, Karna happened to offer Parashurama his lap so his guru could rest his head and take a nap. Lord Indra became afraid of the fighting prowess of Karna and he himself took the form of a bee and stung Karna's thigh in order to benefit his son Arjuna.

• Despite the pain, Karna did not move, so as not to disturb his guru. With blood oozing from his wound, Parashurama woke up and at once deduced that Karna was not a Brahmin. Enraged, Parashurama accused Karna of stealing knowledge, and laid curse upon Karna that he would forget all the knowledge required to wield the Brahmanda astra. :(
• Karna, once encountered a child who was crying over her pot of spilled ghee. As she refused to take new ghee & asked for the same ghee, he squeezed the soil to extract the ghee into her pot. Later Bhoomidevi, the Earth goddess cursed him that he will die helplessly for inflicting enormous pain on Mother Earth for the sake of a mere child. :(
• On a friendly duel tournament conducted by Dronacharya, Karna was not allowed to fight with Arjuna as he was from lower caste & get insulted by bheema as a stray dog, for his mixed caste and lineage. :(
• Duryodhana, the eldest of the one-hundred sons of the king Dhritarashtra, knew that his cousins Pandavas were better at warfare. Seeing Karna as a chance to get on even terms with them he immediately offered Karna the throne of the kingdom of Anga, making him a king and hence eligible to fight a duel with Arjuna. When Karna asked him what he could do to repay him, Duryodhana told him that all he wanted was his friendship ! :)

• Karna is not just a mighty bowman but also the one who won Jarasandha in wrestling. Only Balarama and Bhima ever did that. This happened when he helped Duryodhana marrying Bhanumathi. Such is the physical strength and power of Karna.
• Karna later married Vrushali belonging to the Suta caste, as per the wishes of his foster father Adiratha.
• Later after Pandavas were in exile after losing in tricky game played by Shakuni, Karna took up the task of establishing Duryodhana as the Emperor of the world. He waged wars all over the world and made submission of entire kingdoms in the world & came back to Hastinapura with immense wealth and power the world had never witnessed before.
• Indra realized that Karna would be invincible in battle and unable to be killed as long as he had his Kavach and Kundal. He approaches Karna as a poor Brahmin during Karna's sun-worship. As he was aware that he know him and what he wanted. He cut his armor and earrings off his body, and handed over them to Indra. Feeling ashamed, Indra asked Karna to accept a gift in return. Karna rejected this offer telling that he didn't give charity expecting anything in return.

• As the war approached, Kunti met Karna and in desperation to keep her children alive asked Karna to join the Pandavas. Kunti revealed the truth about Karna's birth. She extracted couple of promises from Karna that he will not kill any of the Pandavas except Arjuna and against Arjuna he will not use a same celestial weapon twice as she still would have 5 children !

• On the day of war, Karna is deeply disturbed by the discouraging words by his own charioteer Shalya, as he even chants reverences of Arjuna weakened him much emotionally.
• Lord Krishna, devices a plan and sends Ghatothkacha, the son of Bheema, to attack the camps of Kauravas. Ghatothkacha is blessed to die only through Brahmastram and therefore is killed by Karna, who loses out on his prime weapon. This changes the course of the battle and established Arjuna as the more powerful warrior.
• On the day Arjuna faced off with Karna, the weather was horrible because Indra (god of rain) was in full force to support his son. Arjuna’s chariot wheel was stuck in the mud while fighting Karna and Karna stopped fighting, because it was not fair. Krishna and Arjuna pulled the chariot wheel free and then the fighting resumed.
• On the last day, all his curses came into action which resulted in forgetting the incantations to divine weapons taught by Parasurama and also get discouraged much after failing to get his chariot wheel stuck out of earth. Even shalya left him saying that he is not a servant to help him out, which led Arjuna kill him by shooting an arrow ruthlessly into Karna’s chest, with the help of Krishna. :(

• Lord Krishna came in the form of a Brahmin asked him to donate his wealth in his last moments. Even while collapsing Karna took a rock, smashed his golden teeth and washed it by shooting the arrow by placing Gangaastra mantra on it gave it to the Brahmin. The Brahmin smiled and turned into Lord Krishna & praised him. Krishna showed Karna his Viswa swaroop. Karna was very glad and fell at Lord's feet and left this cruel world. :(

I don't know what kind of so called heroes they are, killing an unstoppable helpless warrior off his chariot against the war ethics, while trying to pull it out !

Pandavas may have won the war. Nevermind !

But, Karna has won our hearts !! :)

---

Now coming to your second question. Why ?

It’s not the fault of him

• for his birth & abandoned by his own mother ! :(
• getting cursed by heinous words by those so called heroic five people who are being said that they follow so called eternal laws all the time ! :(
• helping a little girl child for her grief in extracting her spilled ghee, and get cursed for that ! :(
• helping his teacher having a peaceful sleep on his lap, despite of irresistible pain of bee sting & getting cursed for that ! :(
• joining the wrong side, as duryodhana was the only guy helped him in such tough times by making him a king and a good friend ! :(
• losing the war even after getting many chances to kill all the pandavas, he let them live, just for the word given to his so called mother ! :(

Despite of all these painful curses and unfortunate consequences, he stood on his words by showing his loyalty towards friendship, significant nature of charity, and followed his values till the last breath.

He is not only a true gem of his kind !

He is not only just an impeccable warrior !

He is not only just an unbounded inspiration to anyone!

Besides that, he is a great human who have the kindest heart ever !

His flawless character have to be praised by everyone irrespective of religion !

If there are so called laws that punish the innocent people without even analysing the real circumstances, I will stand against such laws !

Remember my hero, even if the whole world is against you, I will be there by your side !

# Saaho Karna ( Translation : Hail Karna )

More power to you !!

_/\_Take a bow _/\_

Embrace at least a few values from his life and try to follow them ! :)

Thanks for your time :)

---

Source : Google, Wikipedia, Chaibisket, thoughtcloudstudio, Blogs etc..

What are some lesser known/interesting stories in Mahabharata?

 Well, When we hear Mahabharata, we usually think about Kurukshetra, Krishna, Arjuna, Karna and Draupadi.

But the Mahabharata is much bigger than the war. There are many small stories hidden inside it which are equally fascinating and sometimes teach us more about life than the main story itself let's see few of them :

1. Kacha and Devayani

Kacha went to Shukracharya to learn the secret of Mrita-Sanjivani, the knowledge that could bring the dead back to life. Devayani fell in love with him, while the Asuras repeatedly tried to kill Kacha.

In the end, Kacha learned the secret, but rejected Devayani because he considered himself like her brother. Their story eventually ended with curses from both sides.

2. Yayati and Puru

King Yayati became old because of a curse but still wanted to enjoy his youth. He asked his sons if anyone would exchange their youth with his old age.

Everyone refused except Puru.

Yayati eventually realized that desire cannot be satisfied simply by fulfilling more desires. He returned his youth to Puru and accepted old age.

3. Nala and Damayanti

Nala and Damayanti fell in love even before meeting each other. They eventually married, but Nala lost his kingdom because of gambling and went into exile with Damayanti.

Their story became one of separation, suffering and reunion. Interestingly, this story is narrated to Yudhishthira during his own exile, almost as a reminder that he wasn't the only king to lose everything because of gambling.

4. Savitri and Satyavan

Savitri knew that Satyavan was destined to die, but she still chose to marry him.

When Yama came to take Satyavan's life, Savitri followed him and continued talking to him with remarkable wisdom. Impressed by her, Yama granted her several boons.

Through her intelligence, Savitri eventually brought Satyavan back to life.

5. Yaksha Prashna

During the Pandavas' exile, Yudhishthira encountered a mysterious Yaksha who asked him difficult questions about life, death, happiness and Dharma.

Unlike his brothers, Yudhishthira listened instead of ignoring the warning.

His answers impressed the Yaksha, who was later revealed to be Dharma himself, testing Yudhishthira.

And this is probably what I love most about Mahabharata.

It isn't just a story about a war between two families. It's a collection of stories about human nature.

Sometimes the most interesting lessons are hidden in the stories we don't hear very often.

Mahabharat war - Krishnan and Arjun

In Mahabharata, which is your favorite Parva and why?

 Sauptika Parva is my favorite Parva of the Mahabharata. Before that, I would like to talk about how Dhristadyumna behaved after beheading Drona

Arjuna was overcome with compassion and so were all the kings. But disregarding them, Dhrishtadyumna killed Drona, bull among men, on the floor of his chariot. Covered with blood, that scorcher of enemies then jumped down from the chariot. His limbs were red, he was as difficult to look at as the sun, and the soldiers and others saw that he had been killed in the battle. O king! Before those on your side, Dhrishtadyumna, the great archer, flung down Bharadvaja’s son’s large head. O king! On seeing the head of Bharadvaja’s son, those on your side lost all enterprise. Making up their minds to run away, they fled in all the directions.

-Mahabharata, Drona-Vadha Parva, Chapter 1142(165)

This is the most terrible thing one could do. Dronacharya already left his body and Dhristadyumna literally desecrated his corpse without even considering that Dronacharya was his very own guru. And after doing so he shamelessly defended himself and said that he wasn’t satisfied even after cutting off the head and wished to throw the head far away into the land of Nishadas

In the battle, he slew my relatives and not those of anyone else. Having only severed his head, my fever has not been assuaged. My heart is still suffering, because I did not hurl his head, like Jayadratha’s head, into the land of the nishadas. O Arjuna! It has been instructed that not killing one’s enemy is tantamount to adharma. Yet again, the dharma of kshatriyas is to kill, or be killed. O Pandava! In accordance with dharma, I have killed my enemy in the battle.

-Mahabharata, Narayanastra-Moksha Parva, Chapter 1145(168)

Satyaki rebukes him and also Shikandi for bringing down Drona and Bhishma respectively through unusual means and tactics.

You have spoken to Partha, bull among men, about Bhishma, but that great-souled one himself decided the means of his death. It was your evil-acting brother who killed him. There is no one on earth who is as wicked as these two sons of Panchala. Your father truly created Shikhandi for Bhishma’s destruction and the great-souled one only protected him from his death. The Panchalas are inferior and have deviated from dharma. They hate their friends and their preceptors. You and your brother have only obtained censure from virtuous people. If you again speak such words in my presence, I will bring down your head with this club, which is like the vajra.

-Mahabharata, Narayanastra-Moksha Parva, Chapter 1146(169)

Dhristadyumna defends himself by bringing the topic of Bhurishravas shamelessly and Satyaki angered takes his mace and tries to kill Dhristadyumna but was stopped by Bhima and Dhristadyumna says that he shall kill Satyaki despite Sahadeva pacifying Satyaki and Satyaki calming down

O Bhima! Release Shini’s grandson. Free him. He prides himself in fighting. Let him advance against me, like the wind against mountains. I will destroy his pride with my sharp arrows. O Kounteya! In the encounter, I will rob him of his love for fighting and of his life. The Kouravas are advancing. I am alone capable of performing the grave task that has arisen, one that the sons of Pandu have taken up. Else, let Phalguna counter all of them in battle and I use my arrows to bring down his head. He thinks that I am like the armless Bhurishrava in the battle. Release him. Let him kill me, or let me kill him.’ On hearing Panchala’s words, the powerful Satyaki sighed like a serpent and trembled, seized by Bhima’s arms. O venerable one! Vasudeva and Dharmaraja swiftly made great efforts to restrain those two brave ones. Though their eyes were red with rage, they were restrained by those two great archers.

Now what Satyaki told about Dhristadyumna is 100% right (despite shamelessly justifying his act of killing Bhurishravas after killing him). The Panchalas were products of hatred. Drupada obtained both Shikandi and Dhristadyumna for killing Bhishma and Drona respectively. And both of them became censurable in the deaths of Bhishma and Drona. And Dhristadyumna shamelessly showing his sadism after cutting off Drona’s head and wishing to throw it away and not being satisfied with it and even disregarding him as his guru are the things due to which the Panchalas are the characters I hate the most in the entire Mahabharata and even declaring to kill one of the most prominent warriors on his side despite Sahadeva calming Satyaki down show’s the amount of hatred he has.

---

Now this is the exact reason why I like the Sauptika Parva the most. Ashwathama deciding to kill him like an animal for what he has done with Dronacharya and executing the same is one of the reasons why Sauptika Parva is my favourite.

He awoke the sleeping one with a kick of his foot. With the touch of the foot, the one who was indomitable in battle awoke. The one with an immeasurable soul recognized Drona’s maharatha son. As he was rising from his bed, the immensely strong Ashvatthama seized him by his hair and pressed him down on the ground with his hands. O descendant of the Bharata lineage! He was crushed down with great force. Because of consternation and sleep, Panchala was unable to resist then. O king! He pressed him down on his throat and his chest with both his feet. Though he roared and writhed, he was about to kill him like an animal. He tore at Drona’s son with his nails and gently said, ‘O son of the preceptor! Slay me with your weapon. Do not delay. O best among men! By doing this, let me go the worlds of the virtuous.’ Having heard the words that he had spoken, Drona’s son replied, ‘O worst of your lineage! There is no world for those who slay their preceptor. O evil-minded one! You do not deserve to be killed by any weapon.’ Having spoken thus, like a lion against an elephant, he angrily struck the brave one in his inner organs with extremely fierce kicks of his feet. O great king! As he was being killed in that abode, the brave one’s cries woke up the women and the guards. They saw that his body was being crushed by someone with superhuman valour and took that being to be a demon.

-Mahabharata, Sauptika Parva, Chapter 1291(8)

The way he kills him without a weapon and just by kicking him and thrashing him badly is what I felt happy about since he got what he deserved. Also along with this Ashwathama’s slaughtering of the ones in the camp and his description of being all red due to the bloodshed gave me immense satisfaction (pardon me since I am a lover of graphic violence and the Sauptika Parva explains every minute detail of it😅) and after that he killed Shikandi by splitting him into half with his sword which again made me happy that the Panchalas were finally killed.

The slayer of Bhishma, together with all the Prabhadrakas, armed themselves with many weapons and attacked the brave and powerful one from all sides. He used his bow to strike him between the eyebrows with an arrow with a stone head. At this, Drona’s extremely powerful son was filled with great rage. He attacked Shikhandi and cut him down into two pieces with his sword. Having killed Shikhandi, the scorcher of enemies was enraged and powerfully attacked all the large numbers of Prabhadrakas.

So due to these reasons, Sauptika Parva remains my favorite Parva followed by Drona Parva, Karna Parva, Vana Parva and the Adi Parva

|| Namō Veṅkaṭeśāya || 🛞 U 🐚

If Prativindyan is the eldest of the Upa-Pandavas, then why was Abhimanyu married first?

 

Virata’s proposal was for Arjun not for Yudhishtir.

Despite knowing that Arjuna was not going to be the crowned king anytime in his life,Virata offered Uttara to him. He was swept off his feat by Arjuna’s extraordinary valour exhibited in Uttar go grahan battle.

Arjuna had his own reasons to refuse Uttara. He was scared of his image and he fears sin.

Arjuna knew that Guru Sishyaa relationship should not be spoilt by making his Sishyaa Uttara as his wife.

Now the next alternative that he can chose was his own son not the son of his brother.

Moreover Abhimanyu was his true successor in terms of valour and good looks. King Virat who sincerely wanted Arjun would feel satisfied if he get someone as heroic and talented as Arjuna himself.

Knowing this Arjuna prposed Abhimanyu’s name for Uttara.

Arjuna said, 'Residing in thy inner apartments, I had occasion always to behold thy daughter, and she too, alone or in company trusted me as her father. Well-versed in singing and dancing, I was liked and regarded by her, and, indeed, thy daughter always regardeth me as her protector. O king, I lived for one whole year with her though she had attained the age of puberty. Under these circumstances, thyself or other men may not without reason, entertain suspicions against her or me. Therefore, O king, myself who am pure, and have my senses under control, beg to thee, O monarch, thy daughter as my daughter-in-law. Thus do I attest her purity. There is no difference between a daughter-in-law and a daughter, as also between a son and son's own-self. By adopting this course, therefore, her purity will be proved. I am afraid of slanderous and false accusations. I accept, therefore, O king, thy daughter Uttara as my daughter-in-law. Surpassing all in knowledge of weapons, resembling a celestial youth in beauty, my son, the mighty-armed Abhimanyu is the favourite nephew of Vasudeva, the wielder of the discus. He, O king, is fit to be thy son-in-law and the husband of thy daughter.'

"Virata said, 'It behoveth the best of the Kurus, Dhananjaya, the son of Kunti, who is so virtuous and wise, to say this. O son of Pritha, do thou carry out what thou thinkest should be done after this. He that hath Arjuna for the father of his son-in-law, hath all his desires gratified.'

Arjuna clearly said that if Uttara is married to his son,her purity would not be questioned. He was apprehensive of people who may doubt his integrity.

Arjuna proudly admitted that Abhimanyu is the best in warrior skills and beauty despite being the favourite nephew of Krishna.

Virata’s approval

Virata said that he is fortunate to have Arjun as the father of his son in law Abhimanyu.

So this response of Virata proves how keen he was to have Arjun as his close relation if not as his son in law.

Prativindhya did not figure anywhere in the discussions. Neither did Yudhishtira interfere in decision making. Arjuna on his own decided the alliance.

Uttara offered to Arjuna ,got his son as her husband.

Years before the scene was different..Draupadi won by Arjuna was shared by all,with Yudhishtira’s councilling.

Uttara’s destiny differed from that of Draupadi..

How powerful is Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata?

 His power is beyond human comprehension.

This is what Krishna said about his own strength

"Gods, danavas, gandharvas, men, birds and serpents together are not equal to one-hundredth part of my valour. I possess this bow, this spear, this cakra and this club. I will give you whichever of these weapons you cherish.

• 12, Aishika parva, Mahabharata.

The Kaurava army was in terror seeing Krishna advance against Bhishma

Krishna’s eyes were coppery red with anger. The infinitely radiant one wished to kill him. In the great battle, those on your side lost their senses. They saw Madhava advance against Bhishma in that battle, as if he would swallow him up. ‘Bhishma has been slain. Bhishma has been slain.’ Such lamentations were uttered by the soldiers. All the men were frightened at the sight of Vasudeva advancing.

• 102, Bhishma Vadha parva, Mahabharata.

Krishna had subjucated all the kings in battle

Madhusudana defeated the nishada Ekalavya, Kalingas, Magadhas, Gandharas, the king of Kashi, kings from the desert regions and kings from the east, the south and the mountainous regions. Why did he disregard what was going to happen?

• 7, Mausala parva, Mahabharata.

All the worlds are under Krishna's subjucation

The firmament, the moon, the sun, the nakshatras, the directions, the earth and the great ocean—all these are pervaded with the great-souled Vasudeva’s valour. The gods, the asuras, the gandharvas, the yakshas, the serpents, the rakshasas and everything mobile and immobile in the universe—all these are under Krishna’s subjugation.

• 136, Dana Dharma parva, Mahabharata.